The Battle of Boulder gets pricier

With 14 days until the election that will decide if the City of Boulder gets a go-ahead from voters to explore creating a municipal electricity utility, dollars are flowing into the battle.

The most recent finance reports show that Xcel Energy, which would be replaced as the electricity provider if there is a municipal utility, has spent about $320,000 on its campaign. It has also donated a total of $50,000 to the Boulder Smart Energy Coalition, a group also opposing the municipalization proposal.

The election finace report for the smart energy coalition shows it spending $341,000.

That brings the total spent opposing the plan to more than $660,00.

Three issues committees supporting the municipal plan – Committee for Local Energy and Citizens for Boulder’s Clean Energy Future – have spent about $65,000, according to their reports.

Boulder voters are being asked to approve or rejected a measure that would give the city the power to form a municipal power authority and issue bonds for it. A second measure would temporarily create a utility occupation tax – equal to about $1.20 a month for a household – to raise $1.9 million a year to finance development of the municipal utility.

Emilie Rusch covers retail and commercial real estate for The Post. A Wisconsin native and Mizzou graduate, she moved to Colorado in 2012. Before that, she worked at a small daily newspaper in South Dakota. It's the one with Mount Rushmore.